


Worlds Apart

by Brosequartz



Series: Worlds Apart [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, McGenji Week, McGenji Week 2017, Reunions, Separation, This was for the prompt separation, a bit late but also I spent a bit more time on it, and crying, but only if people actually want to read that, here it is part 2, oh hell yeah reunions, sad genji, there may eventually be a non-mcgenji week related part 2 to this, this is LOADED with flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12900468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brosequartz/pseuds/Brosequartz
Summary: After the fall of Overwatch, the members of Blackwatch scattered. Genji found himself in the mountains of Nepal. After finding peace within himself, he also realizes just how much he misses Jesse McCree.





	1. Chapter 1

Genji gazed out across the mountains. The Himalayas were vast, and beautiful. From the other side of the valley he could hear the wind howling, screaming across the snow-covered peaks. But where he sat, on the wall of the monastery, it was gentle. It made him think of Jesse. Jesse was a force on the battlefield, impossibly deadly with his Peacekeeper, picking off enemies with pinpoint accuracy. He was fearsome. But with Genji, he was all sweet words and soft touches. Those hands, so deadly in battle, were gentle when they held him, when they touched him, and Genji smiled at the memory. 

He always did his best to remember Jesse with fondness, and not sorrow. It had been years since the fall of Overwatch, since they all had scattered like dust in the wind. Years since he had seen Jesse. He couldn’t say he mourned Overwatch, especially since its collapse had sent him on the journey of self-discovery that had brought him here, to Nepal. His soul was at ease here. He was whole. When he was a Blackwatch agent, his soul was consumed with anger, shattered by what Hanzo had done to him. But in Blackwatch he had had Jesse.

Back then, he wouldn’t have called what they had “love.” But the introspection he had done here with the help of his master, Zenyatta, had led him to the realization that that was, in fact, what it had been. Their lives before Blackwatch had been completely different, yet they were more similar to one another than to anyone else. 

“I’m so glad our lives crossed paths,” Jesse had said to him once. They had been lying side by side in bed, and he had curled up against Genji’s chest, whispered it into the crook of his neck. “My life’d be so much worse without you in it.” Genji had put his arms around him then, and kissed him deeply. They had both been exhausted, from some grueling mission Genji couldn’t remember now, and he had wanted to just lay there forever, to hold Jesse and never stop. Genji felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. The memory was somehow both precious and painful.

In one of his long, honest conversations with Zenyatta, Genji had come to realize that in Jesse, he had been searching for some sort of confirmation that he was still human. If his body and his soul, both so badly broken, could still be loved, then his humanity was intact. He now knew, of course, that that confirmation had to come from within himself. But back then, Jesse’s love had given him real, genuine comfort. The affection Jesse showed him, and the affection he had given back, had been a respite from the rage and bitterness that had so often consumed him. It helped. Jesse helped.

“You have now found the way to make yourself whole, Genji,” Zenyatta had said to him then, “but filling yourself with love for another is hardly the wrong way to heal the soul.”

Genji knew that the reassurance he had taken from Jesse’s love was temporary. To be truly whole, he could not rely on any external force. Here in Nepal, he had found the light inside himself to heal completely, and to become better than he was before. But far from feeling he no longer needed Jesse to complete him, he missed him. This was part of why he knew that what he felt was love. Not just lust, or infatuation, or a need to fill the hole in his soul. Those things may have been there too, but under it all was real love. And now that he had shed every negative feeling, every unhealthy coping mechanism, and understood himself, he felt that his love was better now. That if he was with Jesse again, he would be able to love him better than he had before. Their love had brought him so much happiness even then. He wondered how happy it would make him now. How happy it would make both of them.

Something he had said to Zenyatta some days ago leapt to mind. “I believe,” Genji had said, “that with the way I am now, Jesse and I could be more than the sum of our parts. 

“In Blackwatch, we clung to each other for comfort in a chaotic world, both around us… and inside us. I do not know how Jesse has grown since we parted. But the peace within me is something that I— that we could build upon. Our love back then made my life brighter in a crushing darkness. I must give it the chance, now that that dark time is over, to shine as brightly as it possibly could.”

“You know, my pupil, that you may not find Jesse.”

“I do.”

Zenyatta was not trying to discourage him—this Genji knew. He was only reminding him that he might not get what he wanted. But Zenyatta knew Genji could accept that. He also knew that Genji needed to try. To find out, one way or another.

“And you know that if you do find him…”

“He may not want to be with me again.” Genji’s voice was calm. He knew that, should he find Jesse, the other man might not leap into his arms and kiss him soundly (though the thought of that made Genji smile). He might have moved on. He might not want the new Genji, and that thought was painful. But he wouldn’t trade his new peace of mind for anything. Ever.

Genji was immeasurably grateful for what Zenyatta and the other monks had helped him to do, to discover about himself. He could never in a thousand lifetimes fully express his gratitude for that. But he himself was not a monk. He knew that he would eventually leave the monastery and continue his life’s journey. 

Looking out at the mountains, Genji removed his helmet and took a deep breath of the cold, clean air. He felt at peace here. But there was more to life—more to his life, at least—than peacefulness. He had a warrior spirit, after all. 

“Genji,” said a voice behind him. He turned around and saw Zenyatta, who had glided up to him silently as he sat. 

“Master,” Genji replied with a bow of his head.

“Thinking of leaving again?”

Genji smiled and replaced his helmet. “You know me well.” 

He knew Zenyatta was not asking him to stay. He was simply making an observation. Genji had been considering leaving the monastery for some weeks now. He had said so the first time he had thought of it, and Zenyatta had nodded knowingly. It was inevitable. But it was hard to tear himself away from the place and the people that had healed him.

“Shall we meditate, my student?”

“Of course, master.”

The two walked back to the shrine together.

“I was thinking about Jesse,” Genji said. 

“Indeed?”

“I miss him, master.” Genji felt his eyes watering again. He let the tears fall, running down his cheeks under his visor.

“I know you do. Your love for him is strong.” Zenyatta’s voice was fond, and reassuring.

“I did not think, when we parted ways, that I would miss him. I do not think that I had truly missed another person before this. And we had never been separated for long. Since meeting each other, we saw one another almost every day. We shared a room, and sometimes a bed. And now— we are worlds apart. I have not seen him in years.”

“You have learned much in your time here, Genji. About yourself, and about the world. I know you will take your knowledge and make something positive in the world. Whether it be fighting for what is right, or cultivating your love for Jesse. Perhaps both, if his love of justice is as strong as you say.” Zenyatta didn’t have a mouth to smile with, but Genji could hear something analogous in his voice.

He smiled back at his teacher. “I think, then, that I will go, tomorrow.”

That night, Genji prepared to leave. He had little to pack, having abandoned most of his belongings when Overwatch fell. He had his sword, his photo of himself and Hanzo, and little else. He looked out the window, at the same vast mountains he had been watching earlier. They were illuminated by starlight. The stars were so beautiful here. There were no city lights to obscure them, and their light pierced through the thin air clear and bright. He had seen stars this clear in the American southwest, too, way out in the desert. That was a long time ago, now. He would see them again soon. That was where he would begin his search. He didn’t expect to find Jesse there so much as he expected to find a lead. It was Jesse’s home turf. Perhaps he had made contact with some people there who could give Genji some idea of where he was. He lay down to sleep, emptying his mind for the time being. 

“Farewell, my student,” said Zenyatta the next morning.

“Farewell, master.” Genji bowed. “I cannot thank you enough for everything you have taught me.”

“Good luck on your journey. Peace and blessings be upon you.” Zenyatta’s voice was filled with sincerity. “I hope that you find what you are looking for. I have faith in your ability to build something truly beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Genji smiled. “Peace be upon you as well, master.” 

Genji set off down the mountain. He had strapped his sword to his back and tucked his photograph away safely. It was a long walk down from the monastery to the village, where he could gather news and prepare for the longer journey. He was going to America. He looked around at the mountains as he descended. There were mountains in the desert southwest as well. He remembered a mission there, a long time ago. He and Jesse had been scouting an area suspected to house the headquarters of some omnic extremist group. They’d been dropped off miles away and had to hike for hours under cover of darkness to approach the spot covertly. What they had found hadn’t been the organizations headquarters. It had been a heavily guarded weapon repository. There was no way for them to take it out alone, but they had only realized this after sneaking deep into the building—an abandoned warehouse repurposed as an armory. They’d almost made it out when they were apprehended. The memory was faded now, but Genji remembered omnics firing on them, shredding the crates behind them into splinters. He remembered Jesse getting hit by the machine gun fire, and crying out in pain. He remembered the rage that had surged through him, remembered slicing through the omnics faster than they could turn around to shoot him, and half-dragging, half-carrying Jesse out of the building and off into the desert. He hadn’t killed anywhere near all of the omnics stationed at the armory, and couldn’t afford to risk them finding the two of them if he radioed the commander or called down the drop ship. Not until they got further away. They had walked so far that night, slowly, painfully, with his arm around Jesse’s waist and Jesse’s over his shoulder as he clutched his bleeding abdomen. Genji had somehow managed to get out without a single scratch on him, and his heart clenched as he listened to Jesse’s labored breathing. 

“Guess you really are faster than a bullet,” Jesse had said with a wheeze that may have been an attempt at laughter.

“How can you joke at a time like this?” Genji had hissed at him, shifting his arm to hold Jesse more securely.

“At a time like what?” Jesse had replied with a grin that quickly turned to a grimace. Genji had glared at him, and continued to pull him along across the desert. 

Eventually, they had reached the foot of the mountains, and seeing the forest just ahead of them, Genji had hauled Jesse up into the trees. There they stopped, and Genji had laid his partner on the ground. He had put Jesse’s head in his lap and brushed his hair out of his eyes before turning his comm back on and contacting Commander Reyes. 

“Commander,” he had said, “We found the place. It was not what we thought. McCree is injured, but we made it out. I will turn our homing devices on so that the drop ship can find us. Please, make haste.”

“Good work, Shimada. They’ll be there ASAP. Reyes out.”

Then had begun one of the longest nights of Genji’s life. Jesse’s good humor had worn out by the time they reached the mountain, and his face was screwed up in pain as he lay in Genji’s lap. He had squeezed Genji’s hand like a vice, panting against his partner’s thigh. Watching him suffer had been horrible. Genji had had more than his fair share of pain in his life, but watching Jesse that night had made him feel helpless, a feeling he was unaccustomed to. He had long since stopped being ashamed to let Jesse see him cry, and he wept bitterly to watch him then. He had felt like Jesse’s grip on his hand was an anchor holding him to his sanity in that moment, and if it had loosened, that he would have lost control completely. But Jesse had remained conscious, and clutched him tightly the whole time. When the drop ship had finally arrived, Genji had carried him up the ramp, one arm under his knees and one around his back. 

“You’re real sweet, y’know that?” Jesse had said to him, much later. “Dragging me all that way even though I was annoying ya the whole time. If I didn’t know better I’d think you cared about me.” He had winked, and Genji had smiled and rolled his eyes. 

Those moments were one of the things he missed most about Jesse. The little quips, the fond teasing. His tongue was as quick as his trigger finger, and had talked them out of many a sticky situation. He had made Genji laugh, an accomplishment not many people could claim, and he had made him blush and sigh with sweet words whispered in his ears when they were alone.

The memory of Jesse teasing him about caring for him was a warm one, one that Genji treasured, but it was attached to the memory of the night in the mountains of Arizona. It reminded him that life was “more than a series of 1s and 0s,” as Zenyatta said. Those mountains may have held dark memories, but they were connected to fond moments and powerful emotions. 

Those mountains were tiny compared to the ones around him now, in Nepal. And he had nothing but good memories of these. They formed solid walls around him, but he didn’t feel closed in. He was freer now than he ever had been. Free in every sense of the word. He was free from the emotional turmoil of his youth. Free of any authority to answer to, whether that be his family’s elders or his superiors in Overwatch. Free of any responsibilities or loyalties, except to his own heart and soul. And those he would follow, chasing the most beautiful feeling he had ever felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genji makes his journey to the desert southwest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL I finally got around to writing part 2, and ended up getting carried away and now there's gonna be a part 3 as well, just to keep the chapters consistent in length. This chapter is pretty different from the first one in my opinion but I also found it just as emotional to write. Hopefully it's equally enjoyable.

Genji gazed out across the desert. The stars were as clear and beautiful here as they were in Nepal—just as he remembered. The faintest of breezes blew at his back as he walked across the dusty landscape. The Chiracahua mountains, covered in forest, formed a line at the horizon. The specific mountain he’d dragged Jesse onto after that mission years ago was in a different part of the Chiracahuas, but after seeing the Himalayas, the whole mountain range seemed tiny. 

It was strange—that a mountain range could seem small to him. It wasn’t, of course, it was all relative. Relative to the Himalayas, the Chiracahuas were small. Relative to him, both ranges were enormous. Relative to the distance he had already come to find Jesse, the distance remaining was nothing. But at the speed he was going, it would take hours still to get there. 

This was the first place Genji had come on his search for Jesse. After doing some digging, he had heard about a high-speed train Jesse had supposedly “raided.” From there he had followed a trail of clues across America and northern Mexico. It had led him here. He had arrived in the city that afternoon, and waited until dusk to begin his walk across the desert. There were roads leading where he was going, but renting or stealing a car were both bad options—he didn’t want there to be any trace of him. Jesse was on the run from the law, and if Genji could track him… there was no reason to believe the authorities couldn’t. If they were close behind him, he wanted them not to know he had ever even been here. It would give him and Jesse an edge when they made their escape. If they made their escape. His heart clenched. 

He had come to terms with the possibility that Jesse might not want to come with him. That Jesse might not want to love him. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t desperately hoping for the opposite. 

On top of that, there was the possibility that Jesse wasn’t even there. That he would have to continue his search. He took a deep breath. He was well disciplined now, after his time in Nepal. He was patient. No matter how long it took or how far he had to go, he would find Jesse. He had promised himself, promised Zenyatta, that he would try to build something beautiful. The pain and chaos that had filled him when he had been in Blackwatch had been stripped away, leaving the love he had felt for Jesse, bright and beautiful in his memories. The thought of building up that love, now that nothing was holding him back, filled him with such a beautiful euphoria he almost couldn’t breathe. They could be better than before. Before had been so wonderful, what would that be like?

The wind at his back picked up as he neared the edge of the trees. Here he met the road again, and followed it along the line between desert and forest. All his sources had pointed to Jesse being in a small town at the foot of these mountains. He would reach it well before sunrise, even on foot.

He walked slowly along the road, knowing about how far the village was. He looked up at the stars once again. It struck him how few places he had ever been where they looked like this. The Shimada family home in Hanamura was too close to the city to see them this way. The same was true of Overwatch’s Swiss HQ, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar where he had once been stationed. This place was special, just as Nepal was. The thought occupied his mind for a while, as he continued his walk.

The town was now visible in the distance, but only to his cybernetic eyes. Every light in every building was dark, and a normal human eye could not have made out their silhouettes in the night. There wasn’t a soul to be seen. He wondered if Jesse was asleep. He remembered what it had been like to sleep side by side with him, and his heart swelled. 

Back then, they had both suffered from nightmares. It hadn’t been unusual for one of them to wake up gasping for breath, and the other to hold him and whisper words of comfort in his ear as they both drifted back to sleep. Genji remembered running his hands through Jesse’s hair, stroking it out of his face.

“What was it this time?” he had murmured.

“Deadlock again,” Jesse had sighed, burying his face in the crook of Genji’s neck.

Genji had hummed. “Gone,” he said.

“I know,” Jesse had whispered, wrapping an arm tightly around Genji’s waist. “And now I’m here, with you…” He trailed off with a soft sigh. Genji pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. Jesse, not yet asleep, had snorted and blown a raspberry into his neck. “Forehead kisses?” he teased, “You sap.”

Genji had glared at him. “Go back to sleep, Jesse.”

“Alright, sweetheart,” Jesse had replied, pressing another kiss to the underside of his jaw before snuggling back up under his chin. “Seeya in the mornin’.”

Still thinking of these warm memories, Genji arrived at the edge of the town. It was as dark and silent as he had expected it to be. Not a single light was on. There were no 24-hour convenience stores, or motels with “vacancy” signs, or even street lamps. 

There was a stillness in the air as he stepped into the town, his feet making almost no sound on the dirt road. In the distance, an owl hooted. Genji turned his head towards the sound, but kept walking. Along the main road was a gas station, a car wash, a bar, a couple of diners, and what looked like some kind of government building (the town hall, maybe?). Each and every building was dark and he had almost no idea where in the town he might find Jesse, so he started with the building closest to him: the bar. He peered in the windows and circled around the back, not wanting to break in if he didn’t have to. If an initial sweep proved fruitless, he would return to look inside the buildings. 

He went down the street, silently circling every building. When he got to the town hall, he held back a sigh. He couldn’t search this one from the outside alone—it was too big. Well, he could at least circle around it to start. 

As he walked around the back, he saw the hall was adjoined to another building on the other side of the block. Curious, he walked around the front to see what it was. 

It was a courthouse. Adjacent to it was a police station, and adjoined to that, a tiny jail. Now that was a possibility. Years ago he wouldn’t have even considered the possibility of Jesse being caught by the police, but—who knew what state Jesse was in now? He remembered another conversation about Jesse he had had with Zenyatta, months earlier.

“One of the things I am concerned about, master,” he had said, “is… well, after Overwatch fell, I came here. I healed.”

Zenyatta had nodded. “You have made great progress.”

“My concern is that Jesse may not have… gotten better in the way that I have. That he may have gotten worse. I know it is selfish but… it pains me to see him in pain. I want him to be well. I must confront this, I think, before I am ready to leave.” 

“Confront it?” Zenyatta had asked, prompting.

“Yes. I must overcome this selfish fear.”

“In what way is it selfish, Genji?” Zenyatta’s voice was gentle, not questioning Genji so much as inviting him to introspect.

“My fear is seeing him in pain. Why should I fear someone’s pain other than my own?”

“Why, indeed?” Zenyatta had replied, and left the conversation hanging at that. Genji had puzzled over the question for days before it finally clicked. He had been sharing a meal, faceplate off, with some of the monks and had been unable to hide the blush coloring his face. 

“That is what love is, master,” he had said to Zenyatta later that day, cheeks still flushed. “When you love someone, their pain is your pain too.”

“So,” Zenyatta had replied, fond satisfaction in his voice, “what must you really confront?”

“I must accept the reality that when I see him again, it may be painful. I do not know what Jesse has been doing all this time, and the years may not have been kind to him. I must not let myself be afraid of seeing him in such a state. I realize now that I cannot prevent it from hurting me. But I can be ready.” 

And Genji was ready. With the bounty on Jesse’s head, and all the trouble and distress that must come with it, there was no guarantee that Jesse was in shape to shake off every authority like he used to clear a battlefield in Blackwatch. Jesse being in this small town jail was a possibility. He walked up to the building to find a way inside.

The front door was locked. Not surprising. He tried the windows next. They were closed, but not locked. Genji briefly wondered if they were kept open during the day to let in a breeze, or if the building was air conditioned. It did seem somewhat old. 

He wiggled the blade of his shortsword into the crack between the window and the sill to leverage it open, taking care not to chip the paint. He wanted to leave as little evidence that he was here as possible. Hopefully none at all. 

He dug his fingers into the space he’d made, and lifted the window. It opened with a creak, but there was no one around to hear. He sheathed his shortsword, and climbed silently through the window. 

He was in a kind of entrance hall—a small one. On his left were office doors with nameplates and one courtroom door with a plaque signifying it as such. On his right were more doors, some with nameplates, and one without. This one looked to be in the right place to lead to the adjoining building Genji had seen from the outside. He tried the doorknob. It was locked.

Genji sighed. So much for not leaving a trace. He didn’t exactly have a set of lockpicks, so he would have to force the door open. He checked for any sort of alarm, and found none. So he took the doorknob in hand and with his augmented body’s superhuman strength, wrenched the door open. 

A loud thud and a crunch echoed in the hallway as the latch tore out a chunk of the wall beside the door. Genji sighed once more, looking at the damage. Oh, well. It couldn’t be helped. He stepped into the short hallway the door opened into, and approached the door at the other end. This one appeared to be alarmed. Unfortunate. Just as he got close enough to crouch down and examine the alarm, the door opened.

A startled police officer was peeking through the door, evidently afraid of what he would see on the other side. Genji froze. He had assumed no one would be in the building, that this village police station wouldn’t feel the need to have overnight staff. Shit. No one was supposed to have seen him. 

He leapt to his feet and grabbed the door. The officer stumbled backwards with a gasp as Genji stepped into the room beyond the door. It was small, containing several desks, a large multi-channel comms unit, and thankfully, no other people. 

Genji wasted no time. He lunged towards the officer, knocking him to the ground on his stomach. He pinned the man’s arms down with his knees and, pulling a pair of handcuffs out of the officer’s belt, locked his hands behind his back.

The man put up no resistance, seemingly too shocked to do so. Genji wasn’t really surprised. A town this small probably had so little crime the police never got any experience dealing with criminals. Which he was, now. Technically. He sighed again as he sized up the man beneath him. He had already left a big mess at this point. People would know he had been here no matter what. The question was whether they would know what he looked like. 

“Wh-what are you?” the officer stammered, interrupting Genji’s decision-making. 

Genji laughed. Years ago, that question would have made him bristle. What are you? An omnic? Or a human? A man, or a machine? Or something in the middle, a freak of nature and science, a living weapon, a person who doesn’t own his own body anymore? Genji had since made peace with those thoughts. It was a question he had found the answer to after much introspection. But he didn’t have time to explain it to this man.

Smiling, he leaned down to murmur in the man’s ear, “You made me laugh. So, I will not kill you.” He drew back, and with a calculated amount of force, struck the man on the back of the head with his cybernetic arm. The man went limp.

He leaned down to check the officer’s breathing. He was fine. He wouldn’t come to for a few hours. Genji stood up and dusted himself off.

Taking a better look around the room, which was lit with a single dingy fluorescent desk lamp, Genji frowned. There was no apparent reason for an officer to be here at night. The long-range comms unit in the center of the room wasn’t on. None of the overhead lights were even on. Why would someone be sitting here in the dark, in the middle of the night, not talking to anyone? 

Genji looked down at the man, then bent over to go through his pockets. He found a police badge, a personal comms unit, a wallet, and a set of keys. Keys… not keycards, actual keys. This building must be decades old at least to have doors with actual keyholes. Genji glanced around at the walls of the room. The door he had come through had no keyhole, just the alarm on the other side. He supposed it was nice that he hadn’t had to disable the alarm. He was much better in battle than in electrical engineering. 

There was also a set of broad oak double doors, probably leading outside. On the wall opposite them were a few office doors. And at the other end of the room from him, a single door directly across from the one he had come in through. This one was narrow and metal, and unlike the office doors, had no little window in it or any plaque beside it indicating where it led. 

Skirting around the desks, he approached it. It looked heavy, and had the kind of mechanism at the top that makes a door close quickly. He examined the door handle. It was locked, but not alarmed. He looked over the keys in his hand. None of them looked particularly well matched to the door, so he tried them one by one. 

The third key unlocked the door. It was as heavy as it looked—he leaned on it to make it open up. 

The door opened into a dimly lit room with no windows. The walls were cinder block, painted over in white, and three jail cells with iron bars lined up against the opposite wall. The one directly in front of him was empty. He glanced to the left, at the other two. Three jail cells seemed excessive for a town this small. But everything about this building told him it was old, very old, and maybe a hundred years ago this town had had more crime. Maybe two hundred years ago it had had to deal with old wild west bandits. The thought made him smile, amused. 

Cheesy wild west movies had been a regular occurrence in Blackwatch, Jesse had had a collection of them. He, Genji, and the other agents used to cram themselves all onto the couch in the lounge of the Blackwatch living quarters’ tiny common room to watch them. Jesse had defended some of them as “not cheesy,” but no one had ever listened. 

On many of those nights, after the other agents had filtered out of the common room to go to bed, he and Jesse had fallen asleep on the couch in each other’s arms. Usually, Jesse would wake up in the middle of the night, feeling cold if it was winter or hot if it was summer (the common room had neither windows nor blankets). Genji, drowsy, had always let Jesse half-carry him back to their room and put him in bed properly. 

Genji would always fall back asleep immediately, but not before feeling Jesse kiss him on the forehead, or the nose, or the cheek before returning to his own bed. Back then, he had never realized how much those soft, loving touches had meant to him. But in Nepal he had often thought about how much he missed them. There, he would let the memories wash over him of all the things Jesse had done that had made him feel better about himself, made him feel less sad and less angry. Sometimes he would cry—it wasn’t always easy to remember good things without being sad that they were gone.

But he wouldn’t cry here. He was on a mission.

He closed the door behind him carefully. It pulled hard, the mechanism on the other side trying to slam it shut. But he was strong enough to control it. It closed with a soft click. 

Genji walked quietly to the second cell. It too was empty. On to the third.

There. A figure was lying on the bench in the last cell. Despite the dim light, Genji could make out the red hue of the serape draped over the figure, and the shape of the cowboy hat lying on the floor beside him. 

Genji’s heart jumped. He could scarcely believe it. 

“Jesse?” he whispered. The figure didn’t move. He repeated himself, this time not whispering. “Jesse?”

The figure stirred. Genji held his breath. The figure rolled over, and turned his gaze towards him. 

It was Jesse. 

He propped himself up on his arm and blinked his eyes a few times. One of the overhead lights flickered and suddenly turned brighter. Jesse stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened. 

The look on Jesse’s face shattered Genji’s heart into a thousand pieces and mended it all at once. It was a look of shock, agony, disbelief, but also the look of a man whose prayers had been answered, a man dying of thirst who had just found a spring of the coldest, clearest water. He held his breath looking into those eyes, feeling like he could drown in them if he looked long enough. They were wide, deep, and shining like stars.

They held one another’s gaze for what felt like forever before Jesse opened his mouth. “Genji?” he wheezed, his voice hoarse. “That really you?”

Genji breathed in, biting his lip. “Yes, Jesse,” he whispered, willing his voice not to shake. “It is really me.”

Jesse blinked, and the tears that had been gathering in his eyes began to pour down his cheeks. “Genji, you—wh-what’re you doin’ here?” He was trying to speak through choked sobs, and Genji’s heart gave an agonizing throb at the sound. 

“I came looking for you. I have been looking, for some time now.” He kept his voice measured, despite his racing heart. He had feared he might find Jesse in a terrible state, but rather than feeling repulsed he was filled with an overwhelming need to hold him, to wrap his arms around him and never let go. He desperately wanted to wipe away those tears, and his fingers twitched at his sides. 

“Looking for me?” Jesse asked. He sat up, fixing Genji again with that stare of pained, hopeful disbelief, even as more tears ran down his cheeks, leaving tracks in the dirt on his face.

“Yes.” Said Genji. “I have… missed you. Very greatly.” He wanted to run to Jesse, to jump into his arms and hold him tight, as tight as his superhuman strength would allow. But he got the feeling Jesse would jump, or flinch away from him. Like he wasn’t in a state to find comfort in touch. He held back, itching to wrench the bars apart and rush forward but not wanting to push any boundaries. Jesse was dirty, and tired, and looked like he hadn’t had a single good day since leaving Overwatch.

Genji’s heart fell into his stomach as he realized, this was how he must have looked to Jesse when he first arrived at Blackwatch all those years ago. Broken into a million pieces, the lowest he had ever been. He had felt like he had no shred of dignity, or value, or power over his own life left. He remembered something Jesse had told him, years after the fact.

“Y’know, the day I first saw you, it broke my heart into pieces.” Jesse had said to him, one night as they lay squeezed together in a single bunk. “I’d never seen anyone that down before. And I know you used to think like everyone was disgusted with you, but when I saw you? I wanted nothin’ more than to make you feel better.” Jesse had paused then, to laugh. “But you didn’t take kindly to that at first.”

Genji had chuckled in response. It was true—he had met Jesse’s first attempts at conversation with pure venom, hissed every one of his words like an angry cat. It had taken him some time to recognize the reality that Jesse did not pity him. He just… wanted to spend time together. From then, of course, their relationship had grown into one of deep affection and intimacy. 

Genji felt now like he was looking at a reflection of himself from that first day. He was not a reflection of Jesse on that day, however. Unlike Blackwatch Jesse, Genji was at peace. He was whole. He wasn’t a stranger, either. The day they had met, Jesse had wanted to comfort a lonely stranger. Today, Genji wanted to comfort the man he loved with his entire heart and soul.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is the last chapter! Thanks to everyone who patiently waited when I said 4 months ago that I would do a part 2, I'm so glad I came back to this :)

Jesse lurched to his feet and walked across the cell. He was clearly tired, but not injured, moving sluggishly but not limping. Genji held back a sigh of relief.

Jesse stopped when he got to the bars, and reached a hand through them to place it on Genji’s cheek. His eyes were full of something more tender now. Breathless, Genji raised his own hand to place it over Jesse’s.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Jesse said in the same soft voice he always used to say it. When he would cup Genji’s face in his hands and rub his thumbs over his cheekbones. Genji felt a sudden urge to rip the iron bars apart with his bare hands. Instead, he dropped his gaze to the ring of keys in his hand, and unlocked the cell door.

It swung open, and then Jesse was in his arms. The cowboy threw his arms around Genji’s neck, and buried his face in his shoulder. The keys dropped to the ground with a clatter as Genji responded, wrapping his arms around Jesse’s wait and pulling him close.

They held each other for a while, Genji lost in the feeling of Jesse’s body against his. It was almost like meditating, the way his mind was empty of everything but Jesse’s warm, solid form. His hammering heart slowed to a peaceful pace, and he sighed into Jesse’s shoulder.

He was shifting his grip on Jesse’s waist to squeeze him tighter when he felt a gentle pressure on his neck. Jesse was kissing him.

“Jesse,” he laughed, “this is not the time for that.” But he didn’t pull away.

“I know,” Jesse said, placing a hand on the back of Genji’s head. “Don’t care though.”

Genji realized he didn’t care either. He tilted his head back to give Jesse a better angle and sighed, moving his hands to his hips. Jesse kissed up his neck to his jaw, then pulled away. Genji felt hands on either side of his jaw, releasing the latches on his faceplate. Jesse lifted it away, with hands that were shaking ever so slightly. Genji felt his heart clench.

“It really is you,” Jesse said, his eyes shining. Tears started to run down his cheeks again, leaving more tracks in the dirt on his face. Genji wanted so badly to say it. But this wasn’t the time or the place for declarations. They needed to get out of here. They needed to put distance between themselves and the authorities. Then they could afford to have an emotional outpouring.

Jesse kissed him, and every other thought emptied from his mind. His lips were rough and chapped, but Genji melted into them anyway. It felt like he had come home.

For a minute, he let himself get lost, his world narrowing to Jesse’s mouth as he pushed his tongue inside. Jesse moaned in response and pulled away, breathless.

“It’s been so long,” he said, resting his forehead against Genji’s. Genji nodded, tears welling up in his own eyes now.

“It has.”

Genji closed his eyes, calling up all the self-discipline he had learned in Nepal. “We must get out of this town.”

Jesse gave a half-sigh, half-groan sort of noise and straightened up. “You’re right, sugar. Let’s go.” Genji’s heart fluttered at the pet name and he clicked his faceplate back into place as Jesse went to pick his hat up off the floor of the cell.

“I assume the local police contacted the federal authorities to come collect you?” Genji remarked as they walked back into the main room of the police station.

“Yeah,” Jesse replied, “Took ‘em a while to figure out who I was, though. I must look awful compared to that old picture of me on the BOLO alert.”

Genji smiled weakly. Jesse did look awful. He was thin, and dirty. He looked exhausted, and some of his hairs were turning gray. But there was a little twinkle in his eye now. Just knowing that Jesse was happy to see him, that he had missed him, made Genji less afraid. The worry he had discussed with Zenyatta, that Jesse might have moved on, had evaporated when Jesse had thrown his arms around him and kissed him.

Jesse gave a low whistle when he saw the police officer Genji had knocked out. “You kill him?”

“No.” Genji replied. In response to Jesse’s quizzical look, he added, “He made me laugh.”

A smile broke across Jesse’s face. “That why you didn’t kill me all those years, either?”

Genji couldn’t help but laugh. “It was one of a few reasons.” He reached out for Jesse’s hand, and laced their fingers together.

He unlocked the front doors with his free hand, then threw the keys across the room to land beside the unconscious policeman. Jesse squeezed his hand as they stepped out into the cool night air.

They stayed silent as they walked out of the town. The streets were deserted, but it was so quiet that any words they might have said would have felt far too loud.

As they crossed the road leading into town and set off into the desert, Jesse broke the silence. “So… where to, partner?”

Genji thought for a moment. “Mexico? We are fairly close to the border.”

Jesse shook his head. “They’re expectin’ me to do that. I overheard one of those cops say I’d been ‘intercepted on my way to Mexico.’ I wasn’t even heading that way.”

“What way were you heading?”

Jesse rubbed the back of his neck. “West, I s’pose.”

“You suppose?”

“Yeah… I ain’t exactly got somewhere to go. Just been runnin’ for a while.”

Genji’s heart broke all over again. After Overwatch fell, he had found a new home and a new family in Nepal. But Jesse didn’t have anywhere, or anyone. The agents of Blackwatch had scattered like dust after the fall. Their commander was gone, and the world hated them. Maybe they hated themselves, too.

He looked at Jesse. He loved him so much. The words were on the tip of his tongue when Jesse said, “Any ideas? You comin’ along sorta threw a wrench in my plans.” He smiled. “In a good way.”

“Hmm. We could get onto a cargo train leaving Tuscon. I saw some tracks on my way here.”

“Lead the way, sugar.”

Genji tugged on his hand, and led him in the direction of the train tracks. “Those trains are bound for California, I believe.”

“Most likely,” Jesse nodded.

“I have not been there in years.”

“Haven’t done a lotta things in years,” said Jesse. He lifted Genji’s hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles. Genji’s heart sped up. “Whatcha been up to all this time, pumpkin?”

“I have been traveling the world. I studied at a Shambali monastery in Nepal for a time.”

Jesse raised his eyebrows. “That doesn’t really sound like something you would do.”

Genji laughed, trying to keep it from sounding nervous. “It doesn’t.” He reached for his visor with his free hand. “But I am… not the same man I was in Blackwatch. Nepal changed me.”

His heart was hammering in his chest now. He had prepared himself for the possibility that Jesse would not want to be with him now that he was so fundamentally different a person. He was better now, and he wouldn’t change that for anyone. But having Jesse in his arms, and on his lips, had made him so deliriously happy that his fear of rejection was now clawing at his insides again.

He squeezed Jesse’s hand, and removed his faceplate. He wanted to look Jesse in the eye for what he was about to say.

“I am not broken now like I was back then. I came to terms with many things. My body, my brother, and…” he hesitated. “I realized some things.”

He bit his lip, and turned his head towards Jesse. The cowboy’s face was clouded with worry. Genji felt a spark of panic. He barreled forward before his fear could get the better of him.

“It is not a word I would have used back then, but it would have been true. It still is.” He sucked in a deep breath, and held Jesse’s gaze.

“Jesse, I love you.”

Genji held his breath. He watched as Jesse’s expression changed from worry, to surprise, to something else entirely. The cowboy stopped in his tracks, squeezing Genji’s hand like a vise… and burst into tears.

“Jesse!” cried Genji, his panic building. He dropped his faceplate onto the dust beneath their feet to touch Jesse’s face with the hand the cowboy wasn’t holding in a death grip. “Jesse?”

Frantically, he tried to brush Jesse’s hair out of his eyes, and knocked his cowboy hat to the ground. “I am sorry, Jesse! I did not mean to upset you. I understand if you do not return my feelings—”

“Not return them?” Jesse choked through a sob, “Genji, I’ve ALWAYS loved you!”

Genji froze. Some of the hairs he had been brushing away fell out of his grip and back into Jesse’s face. “What?”

“I never said it,” Jesse said, “cause you never seemed like the kinda person to fall in love. I decided I’d be content with what we had, cause it made me happy.” He sniffled, taking deep breaths to curb his sobbing.

“It made me happy too,” said Genji, breathless. He gently ran his hand through Jesse’s hair again. “Yet I did not realize back then that I was in love.”

“Just bein’ around you made everything a little easier,” said Jesse, beginning to compose himself but still shaking slightly.

“I felt the same,” said Genji, moving his hand to Jesse’s cheek to wipe his tears away. “My concern is that… well. I am a different man now. I did not want to assume that you would still want to be with me, when I am not the Genji you knew.”

“And what exactly is different about ya?”

“I am whole. I am no longer consumed by rage. I am at peace with myself, my body, and my past.” Genji blushed, realizing what Jesse’s reply would be.

“And you thought all that would make me love you less?” Jesse said, incredulous.

Genji felt his face grow hot despite the chilly air. “You will find my company rather different than before…”

“I don’t care, Genji! We went through so much together, you’re so important to me…” he started to shake again. “There ain’t nothing that can take that away.”

“Oh, Jesse.” Genji put his free arm around Jesse’s shoulders, and leaned into him. Jesse released his other hand and wrapped his arms around Genji’s waist, drawing him in close. He buried his face in the crook of Genji’s neck and whimpered into it.

Genji felt tears springing to his own eyes as he wrapped his now-free arm around Jesse too. Jesse continued to shake, crying softly into his shoulder.

Genji reached a hand up to stroke Jesse’s hair. “You have always loved me,” he murmured.

Jesse nodded, which involved rubbing his face up and down on Genji’s shoulder. “Mhm,” he added, tightening his hold on Genji’s waist. Genji blinked, and felt the tears that had been gathering at the corners of his eyes begin to run down his cheeks.

They stood there under the stars, letting their tears fall, until Jesse’s breathing evened and he sighed into Genji’s shoulder. He straightened up, and pulled Genji into the softest, sweetest kiss of his life. His lips were gentle, and Genji’s heart fluttered at the sensation.

Jesse pulled back slowly. The look on his face was so tender that Genji almost couldn’t breathe. He had been so afraid, but now here Jesse was, in love with him. For years and years. Genji couldn’t look away from his face.

Jesse bent over to pick up his hat and Genji’s faceplate. He slapped the hat on his head, and handed the plate to Genji. Genji clicked it into place with his right hand, and slipped his left around Jesse’s waist as they turned again to walk toward the tracks.

It was still long before dawn when they arrived. They spotted a cargo train being unloaded. As soon as the omnics lifting and moving the crates left, the two of them slipped into an empty car to wait.

Not long after, the train pulled out of the station and started off west through the desert. Once there was a reasonable distance between them and the city, Genji crawled over to the open door of the car to sit, dangling his legs over the side.

“The sun is about to rise,” he said as Jesse moved to join him.

“Sure is,” Jesse replied as he took a seat. “Can’t believe it’s only been a few hours since you found me.” He gave Genji a kiss on the cheek, and leaned back on his palms.

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the sunrise. The sky turned a soft pink, then a brilliant orange, before the sun burned away the cool night air. Jesse yawned.

“Sleepy?” Genji asked.

“Exhausted,” Jesse replied. He shifted, lying down on the floor of the car with his head in Genji’s lap. “Haven’t had a good night’s rest in years. Been sleepin’ with one eye open ever since I’ve been on the run. Haven’t felt safe enough.”

Genji ran his fingers through Jesse’s hair, brushing it out of his face. “You are safe with me.”

“I know, sugar,” said Jesse, closing his eyes. Genji leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Keeping his eyes closed, Jesse snorted. “Forehead kisses,” he said.

Genji chuckled. “Go to sleep, Jesse.”

“Mmm,” was Jesse’s response. He took Genji’s hand in his and sighed softly.

After a few minutes, his breathing deepened and his grip on Genji’s hand loosened. Genji smiled and leaned back, looking out of the car at the desert rushing by. He glanced down, and brushed a lock of hair out of Jesse’s eyes. After a moment, he was unable to resist, and leaned down to kiss his cowboy on the forehead once more, this time without the teasing.


End file.
